1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to conveyor systems and more specifically it relates to a product inverting and diversion system for selectively inverting, diverting or skipping various types of products transported upon a high-speed conveyor system.
Manufacturers often times will require products upon a conveyor system to be inverted for packaging and other purposes. For example, every other floor tile on a conveyor system needs to be inverted so that the finished surfaces are juxtaposed to one another thereby preventing damage to the finished surfaces during transporting. Manufacturers also divert defective products upon the conveyor system to avoid having defective products packaged and distributed. Conventional methods of inverting and diverting products upon a high-speed conveyor system generally comprise many workers who manually invert or divert the products upon the conveyor system. Conventional methods of inverting and diverting products upon a conveyor system are extremely expensive and inefficient. Hence, there is a need for a device that is capable of inverting, diverting or skipping various types of products without the need for many workers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Product conveyor systems have been in use for years. Typically, a conventional conveyor system is comprised of a plurality of conveyors that transport the product to a desired location. Along the length of the conventional conveyor system, workers invert and divert selected products as desired.
Hiring the required number of workers to invert and divert product upon a conventional conveyor system is expensive. In addition, over extended periods of time workers tend to become tired and become less accurate in inverting and diverting the product upon the conventional conveyor system. Also, the conventional conveyor system mist either be extended in length or have parallel conveyors to accommodate the large number of employees thereby requiring a significant amount of floor space within the manufacturing facilities.
Examples of inverting devices include U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,722 to Pluntz; U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,863 to Picotte; U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,463 to Kane; U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,796 to Ogle et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,910 to Sauer; U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,385 to Shinomiya; U.S. Pat. No, 4,523,670 to Yanagisawa et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,227 to Wheeler et al. which are all illustrative of such prior art.
Pluntz (U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,722) discloses a box inverting apparatus for inverting boxes of different heights in conjunction with an in-feed conveyor and an out-feed conveyor. Pluntz teaches a pair of opposing conveyor segments that are changed to clamp upon a box and thereafter inverting the box into a released position onto the out-feed conveyor.
Picotte (U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,863) discloses a fluid driven tube positioner. Picotte teaches a pair of opposing clamp arms for clamping upon the product and inverting it thereafter lowering the product upon the conveyor.
Kane (U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,463) discloses a turnover device. Kane teaches a frame, two spaced apart and parallel axis, first and second carrier arms mounted respectively upon the axes for rotational movement, first and second meshing gears mounted on the axes respectively, and a drive motor and lever.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for selectively inverting, diverting or skipping various types of products transported upon a high-speed conveyor system. Conventional conveyor systems are generally incapable of providing high-speed inverting or diverting of product functions. In addition, conventional conveyor systems require many workers to invert and divert the product.
In these respects, the product inverting and diversion system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of selectively inverting, diverting or skipping various types of products transported upon a high-speed conveyor system.